Out of Control (U2 song)

Unlike the other two songs on the Three EP, "Out of Control" was a song the band had difficulty recording. During a 24-bar section nearly two-thirds of the way into the song, the instrumentation was supposed to drop out for a "simple bass-drum figure" before building back up again. Drummer Mullen repeatedly lost his timing during this section, causing his bandmates to re-enter the song improperly. De Whalley insisted that the band record take after take until they got it right, as he thought it was their best song and needed to be coherent on record. This caused friction in the studio, particularly with Mullen who Bono said should have been keeping good time, as he had been taking drumming lessons. Eventually, they completed a usable take of "Out of Control". Producer Chas de Whalley realised and stated, in retrospect, that the bass and drums were constantly out of time with each other. He said Clayton had "a slightly different sense of timing from virtually any other musician".^[1][2]

U2 manager Paul McGuinness and CBS Records representative Jackie Hayden devised a promotional strategy for the release of Three that partially hinged on radio DJ Dave Fanning. Hayden and McGuinness were successful in asking Fanning to play the record's three songs on his radio programme on RTÉ and poll listeners on which one should appear on the A-side.^[3] A different member of U2 appeared on the show each night to play a different track. As a result of the listener poll, "Out of Control" was voted to be the A-side of the record, while the runners-up, "Boy/Girl" and "Stories for Boys", became the B-side.^[4]